England Likely to Host World Test Championship Final
May 26, 2023 at 2:15 PM
The International Cricket Council (ICC) after a long deliberation has approved the more delicate points of the World Test Championship – the new league it hopes will revive Test cricket around the world.
Meanwhile, the discussion for the Test Championship started way back in 1995. Finally, ICC after much debate has finally rubber-stamped on it at their 2018 Annual Conference in Dublin.
The issue has occupied much of David Richardson’s time, as ICC chief executive. A day after it got finalised, Richardson announced he was soon to step down from the role.
Each of the nine leading Full Member nations will play six series over two years, starting in July 2019. The same haul of points – 120 – will be available for a series whether of two, three, four or five matches, to make it possible for poorer Full Members like Sri Lanka, Windies and New Zealand – who make financial losses by staging Test matches – to challenge in the Championship. The top two will take their place in a standalone final.
England is likely to host the first two Test Championship finals in June 2021 and 2023. However, BCCI argued that the leading team after the regular stage should have the right to host the decider.
If the finals take place in England, it would mean an extra seventh Test in 2021 and 2023 for the competitive English market.
ECB admitted they are still waiting for the confirmation before putting the fixtures out for tender to the Test grounds.